Thinking about saving money using dry milk/have you had success w/ it?

[Alicia64]

I finally remembered long ago that my mom used to buy boxes of dried milk and mixed it w/ water. We didn't really like it.

 

But I was thinking of mixing it w/ regular milk.

 

What do you think? Have you had any success giving dried milk to kids? Do you end up saving money?

 

Thanks,

 

Alley

[3littlekeets]

icky.... we just buy ours at Sam's or Costco.

[Diane in CO]

Hi!

 

I haven't done this myself, but have heard from others that it really doesn't taste very good. That being said, I would guess that if you are using it as a replacement for milk in a recipe that it would probably be unnoticed, however if you were going to drink it straight that you might want to reconsider if possible.

 

Diane

[dsmith]

You brought back memories! My dad used to mix the dried milk with water to make a gallon, and then combine it with a gallon of regular milk. It's not as bad tasting then. He saved money, but that was 35 years ago. Powdered milk seems expensive, but I don't know how much it makes so I can't help there. My mom chases the milk sales every week and buys what is on sale no matter if it is 1%, 2%, FF, or reg. She needs about 3 gallons a week with my brother and his family living there. Where I used to live, Aldi's consistently had the lowest milk prices, followed by Walmart and Target. We always bought ours at one of these places. Now I just buy at our closest store unless I'm going to Target or Walmart. I'm not going to make a special trip since they aren't as close anymore.

[CalicoKat]

I can't stand drinking it as replacement milk, but I do use it for baking. No need to use the fresh milk for that.

[snickelfritz]

We don't use it all of the time, but I keep some on hand for when we run out of regular milk.

 

My kids don't mind it as much as I did when I was a kid and my mom broke it out on vacations and such. But, we grew up drinking whole milk and my kids are used to skim.

 

It is better COLD. So, either mix it up the night before or chill it with ice and take the ice out.

 

If your kids like flavored milk, I usually mix in a little Ovaltine for what they will be drinking....but again, we only drink it occasionally.

 

You could do the switch gradually. First few days, mix in mostly regular milk and a little of the mix. Increase the amount of instant bit by bit over a few days.

[AngelaNYC]

We did that for a while. I remember thinking that the measly $$ savings isn't worth the yucky taste. It was ok on cereal or in recipes, and if you mixed it with regular milk it wasn't so bad (as someone mentioned before). I wouldn't do it again. I get gallons of milk in NYC for $2.99.

 

Although, I had great success making my own laundry detergent, using cloth diapers, and utilizing all the free resources in my town that I could find. That was incredible savings for us - and I'd recommend those over powdered milk. :D

[myfatherslily]

I would recommend pricing it first. It's not that cheap, but I've never tried to figure out the actual difference. I think it fluctuates, too.

 

I've heard of people mixing it with regular milk. I used to use powdered milk in cooking because we weren't drinking milk at the time so it wasn't worth having some in the fridge just for cooking (it was just DH and I before kids - he doesn't like milk and I was barely drinking any for some reason... I loved it before and love it now, though! I guess it was just a phase!)

[Renee in NC]

Powdered milk is not cheaper than regular milk anymore. I do keep some for when we run out of regular milk, but the savings isn't there anymore like it was in the early 90's.

 

ETA: I stand corrected. It is slightly cheaper. The powdered milk at Sam's Club is $2.16 per gallon while the regular milk is $2.68. The taste is not worth the 52 cents for me. However, if you drink a lot of milk it could be worth it. If your family uses a gallon a day, that would save you $15.60 per month ($187.20 per year) - that might be worth it.

Edited July 6, 2010 by Renee in FL

[Mama Anna]

We use it, except for 1-yr-old or 2-yr-old babies. A box that's supposed to make 22 quarts costs $11.88 at Sam's Club here. That's 54 cents a quart if I mix it by weight instead of volume. Therefore I spend $2.16 per gallon of milk.

 

It's not the best tasting stuff, but after years of it we're used to it. I like the fact that it doesn't spoil in the box - we can come straight back from a trip to see family and not need to run by the grocery store. We also use it in recipes (granola, bread, etc.).

 

The savings aren't huge - maybe less than $7 per month if milk prices are really low, maybe as much as $15 if they're high - but it's still a place we can skimp, so we do.

 

If you decide to do it, I echo the suggestions to begin substituting it gradually.

 

Mama Anna

[Liz CA]

Check carefully and research the ingredients. It is not the same as milk, as far as I know it's an artificial product.

[Renee in NC]

Check carefully and research the ingredients. It is not the same as milk, as far as I know it's an artificial product.

 

Mine says milk, Vitamin A, and Vitamin D. I googled how it is made and got a description that says it becomes evaporated milk first and then that is dried to produce the dry solids.

[tonersl]

It is better COLD. So, either mix it up the night before or chill it with ice and take the ice out.

 

You could do the switch gradually. First few days, mix in mostly regular milk and a little of the mix. Increase the amount of instant bit by bit over a few days.

 

:iagree:(or rather, my husband would agree!) I don't remember drinking powdered milk as a kid but my husband definitely does and the above recommendations are what he agrees with! I can certainly sympathize with you on the need to cut cost on milk.

 

Good luck and let us know how it goes if you do give powdered a try.

Shannon in NC

[Starr]

This was tried in the 60s. :D It never caught on except for cooking.

[Melissa in FL]

We have done this in the past. My family will only drink powdered milk mixed half with regular 2% milk. We did it for almost a year but near the end I noticed the price of milk had come down and the price of powdered milk had gone up a lot. We were barely saving any money so we stopped. I think it was definitely worth doing but price it out carefully.

Melissa

[Brilliant]

I used to buy it regularly and mix it in with regular milk, or use in cooking. But I always kept my eye on the price, since Amy Dacyzyn pointed out in one of her Tightwad Gazette books that sometimes it's cheaper, sometimes it's not. For the last few years fluid milk has been much cheaper.

 

If you want to make the switch and don't like it - try a different brand. We thought most were OK, but the Smart & Final one was awful tasting and could be used only in cooking.

 

I guess I wouldn't go back to using it now at any price, as we are drinking organic and/or raw milk almost exclusively, at almost $6/gallon. :001_huh:

[Diane in CO]

Another suggestion might be to stock up on milk when on sale and freeze it (I guess depending on how much milk you actually go through in a week, this may or may not be reasonable).

 

We can get milk on sale for 3 gallons/$5 at our local Smith's (Krogers)most weeks. The brand is Mountain Dairy I believe.

 

Diane

[Liz CA]

Mine says milk, Vitamin A, and Vitamin D. I googled how it is made and got a description that says it becomes evaporated milk first and then that is dried to produce the dry solids.

 

I found this a little disturbing as well as the typical heat extrusion process that leaves practically nothing good behind. I am sure if one uses it in a pinch, it's okay vs using it constantly.

Here is the link (hope it works) http://www.ethicurean.com/2009/03/10/mpcs/

 

Chapter 1: The ingredient

 

Milk protein concentrates are created when milk is ultra-filtered, a process that drains out the lactose and keeps the milk protein and other large molecules. The protein components are then dried and become a powder. That all sounds relatively benign - until we learn that those "other large molecules" can include bacteria and somatic cells; that virtually all MPCs come from other countries, most of them with very poor food safety records (China, India, Poland, the Ukraine); and that the milk used to make MPCs is usually not cows' milk. More often, it is from water buffalo, yaks, or other animals common to the countries where MPCs are manufactured.

 

Perhaps because of MPCs' sketchy origins, they have never been approved as a food ingredient by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. (They are, however, a common ingredient in some brands of glue.) The FDA has a list of additives it allows in processed food - the GRAS list, for Generally Recognized as Safe - and MPCs ain't on it. That means the FDA hasn't carried out safety tests on MPCs, as the law requires for any additive on the GRAS list.

 

I was therefore surprised to learn that MPCs are widely used in dairy products manufactured and sold in the United States. Kraft Singles have them, as did most other brands of processed cheese slices that I checked in the grocery store last night. Some snack foods, coffee creamers, candies, and nutritional drinks have them. They're not approved by the FDA as a food ingredient, but they're in a whole lot of food.

[KrissiK]

I do not use it for drinking, but I use it for cooking. It's cheap and I don't use up my regular milk if I'm making pancakes or something that call for a cup of milk.

[jenniferlee]

I've read pretty terrible things about the health aspects of powdered milk. don't have time for looking for links right now (and maybe that's not a concern for you) but I would never use it. There are better ways to save money on food, I think. I would rather just go without milk.

 

Jen

[Pam Wilhelm]

We used it for years..... saving, at times, over $500 per year. We used it exclusively........ we were going through more than a gallon of milk a day.

 

Keep up with the prices........ powdered milk has just started to drop back down to a "less than reg. milk" price and we may go back to it.

 

As stated, we used it for years when the kids were very young....they are currently strong, tall, healthy kids with no problems or illnesses. I would say that we never suffered from using powdered milk.

 

Different brands taste different......... the best was SAM's Club, then Walmart......... the worst was Carnation. Make it the day before and refrigerate it....it tastes much better very, very cold. If you want to use it...break into it slowly.... mising real milk with powdered milk 1/2 and 1/2.....

 

Good Luck. We like it and will go back to it when the price deems.

[Colleen in NS]

I finally remembered long ago that my mom used to buy boxes of dried milk and mixed it w/ water. We didn't really like it.

 

But I was thinking of mixing it w/ regular milk.

 

What do you think? Have you had any success giving dried milk to kids? Do you end up saving money?

 

Thanks,

 

Alley

 

I've used it (straight powdered milk) since my kids were little. It is much cheaper than liquid milk here. I don't like milk anyway, so for me, it was an acquired taste.

[kdeno]

but last time I bought dry milk it was more expensive than regular milk. :glare:

[Ellie]

My mother and stepfather tried that. I refused to drink it because it tasted nasty. :tongue_smilie:

 

You might consider cutting back on the amount of milk y'all consume.

[Amira]

Powdered milk isn't always cheaper than fresh milk, but there are places you can buy it where it's a lot cheaper. Personally, I think non-instant powdered milk tastes a lot better than instant and that's all I buy. I get mine in bulk from LDS canneries; you don't have to be Mormon to buy food there, but you would need to find a Mormon to go with you.

 

I've only used it for drinking in emergencies (like when we were out of a job), but I use it all the time in cooking and for making yogurt. We go through about 75-100 pounds a year that way. Since we eat a lot of yogurt, it saves me lots of money. When we have drunk it, I mixed it half and half with fresh milk and no one noticed as long as I let it sit overnight in the fridge first.

[naturegirl7]

My mom used this to stretch. She would mix up dry milk and water for baking, pudding, casseroles, etc. and save the "real" milk for drinking. On weeks when she really needed to stretch, she would mix real milk and drymilk (+water) - it would be like a skim milk but richer. Most of the time we never knew to be honest - just thought she bought 2% or something by mistake LOL

[ourjourneys]

My experience is that it ends up costing as much. It is handy to have so that it will not get old. But we have found a grocery store outlet where we get 1/2 gallons of smart balance for $1.19. I buy 2 or 3 cases at a time and put it in a deep freezer. We just take 2 out and let them thaw every 2 days and we never have to go to the store for milk.

Krogers here (in southeast TN) has a gallon of milk for $2.08 which is a good deal too...

If you find a good deal on milk, it freezes well. :)

[3lilreds in NC]

e (in southeast TN) has a gallon of milk for $2.08 which is a good deal too...

If you find a good deal on milk, it freezes well. :)

 

Good friends of ours recommended this for buying organic milk - on sale, then freeze. Somehow mine would go bad, perhaps because I tried to keep it in the door of the freezer? I don't know. I didn't have good luck with freezing but it almost had to be user error. Might be time to try it again.

[akmommy]

When we first switched DS from formula to milk we used powdered milk, but only because we were broke and had received some in a food box. As others have said it is not always cheaper. I do keep a box around to use for cooking when I'm low on regular milk. To drink it is just not the same as fresh.

 

My Uncle (by marriage) was born in Berlin, East Germany and powdered milk was all he ever had before coming to the U.S. I used to hate staying at their house because after having been raised on it he preferred it over fresh and that was all they ever had in the house. Bleh...

[Laurie4b]

I would look at the prices. It definitely used to be cheaper to use dry milk. I'm not sure that is still the case. And it tastes icky. I vote for save $$ another way!

[mcconnellboys]

Last time I priced it, it was not cheap at all. I didn't think it was worth it....

[Garga]

I started doing this. I didn't bother pricing it. I mean--it's powdered and tastes nasty on it's own, it must be cheaper...right? I would make a gallon of powdered milk and then mix about 1/3-1/2 into every regular glass of milk I poured.

 

Then DH said, "Did you price it? Is it really cheaper to use the powdered milk?" I was so sure it was.

 

But it wasn't

 

What a disappointment! But at least I didn't have to keep mixing gallons of it on my own. Now I just buy the regular stuff, pop open the lid and pour into glasses. Easy.

 

(This was about 6 months ago.)

[Pam Wilhelm]

Here in Moorhead, Mn powedered milk has just dropped to 9.59/box...which makes 5.5 gallons.....which means about $1.75/gallon. A heck of a lot cheaper then regular milk at $2.65/gallon.

[Renee in NC]

Here in Moorhead, Mn powedered milk has just dropped to 9.59/box...which makes 5.5 gallons.....which means about $1.75/gallon. A heck of a lot cheaper then regular milk at $2.65/gallon.

 

Here it is $11.68 for 5.5 gallons.